Excluding folders and files in Start menu searches

When you click Start and type something into the search box, the results that Windows 7 may display can include programs, control menu items, documents, pictures, music, OneNote pages, and more.  This can be annoying.  Is there a way you can exclude things like documents from your searches?

Yes, for example you can exclude documents in a specific folder by appending the following to your search string:

-folderpath:foldername

You can also exclude multiple folders this way.

Another thing you can do is limit your search results to the file store, for example to not show files in email, by appending the following:

*.docx -folderpath:foldername store:file

Mitch Tulloch is a seven-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award and widely recognized expert on Windows administration, deployment and virtualization. For more tips by Mitch you can follow him on Twitter or friend him on Facebook.

     

 

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2 thoughts on “Excluding folders and files in Start menu searches”

  1. How can we make this exclusion “permanent”?
    It’s annoying too to type this exclusion every time for every search again…

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